Ambassador Vicky Tchong Presented Letter of Credential to President Hu

Ambassador Vicky Tchong

Her Excellency Ambassador Vicky Tchong, presented her Letter of Credential as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to the People’s Republic of China, to His Excellency President Hu Jiantao in a simple, dignified and elegant ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing on the 15^th of February 2011. Ambassador was accompanied by the First Secretary of the Embassy, Mr. Aleixo da Silva.

Also present to witness the Ceremony were the Officials of the Department of the Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China.

Ambassador Tchong is the second Timor-Leste Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China.

Ambassador Tchong went to Primary and Secondary education in Dili, and graduated with a Bachelor degree at the National Taiwan Normal University and further pursued a Post Graduate study in Gerontology at La Trobe University, Melbourne.

After the Ceremony, Ambassador had an audience with President Hu in which both of them discussed and exchange ideas of mutual benefits to the two countries.

H.E. the Minister for Foreign Affairs is presently in Jerusalem

H.E. the Minister for Foreign Affairs is presently in Jerusalem, as part of the delegation of H.E. the President of the Republic of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, attending high level meetings namely with President Shimon Peres, H.E. the Vice Prime-Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, and today will met the Prime Minister Benjamim Natanyahu ,as previously scheduled in the 2010 agenda. These high level meetings will establish a cooperation framework between both countries in relevant areas.


This trip overseas of H.E. the Minister for Foreign Affairs will reach its highest point in the Republic of Indonesia where of one of the most important subjects in the Timorese foreign affairs agenda will be implemented: the presentation of the formal request of accession of Timor-Leste to ASEAN.

This will be the first effective step towards Timor-Leste’s integration in that Organization which will affect in a decisive manner the future of this country.

These events, of crucial importance for the future of Timor-Leste, concur with the trip overseas of H.E. the Head of Government to the United Nations headquarters. In this event, the Ministry for foreign Affairs will be represented by H.E. the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs.

ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM (ARF) - MEETING IN TIMOR-LESTE - 27 and 28 of January 2011

H.E. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Zacarias Albano da Costa

delivering his speech

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KEYNOTE ADDRESS

BY

H. E. DR ZACARIAS ALBANO DA COSTA

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF TIMOR-LESTE

Mr. Co-Chairs

Experts and Eminent Persons,

Excellencies, SRSG, Members of the Government,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor- Leste, I am pleased to welcome you all to Dili and to the 5th meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum Experts and Eminent Persons.

Since our new nation re-gained independence in 2002, we have worked hard as a people to find our place in the world and particularly in this region. As a result, in our aspirations to achieve full membership of ASEAN, we have now accredited Ambassadorial Representation to all ASEAN countries; have achieved full membership of the ASEAN Regional Forum since 2005 and acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 2007.

Timor-Leste has conceived a road map for ASEAN membership. Some concrete steps have been undertaken to realize our firm commitment towards formal integration into the ASEAN community of states. We are in the process of making our formal application to become a full member.

The fact that this process will be initiated under the Chairmanship of Indonesia is testament to the strength of our bilateral ties and depth of friendship. Normalizing relations with our immediate neighbor has been a major foreign policy commitment on our part, and much work has been invested to this end at all levels of Government and State. We have taken a pragmatic proactive approach of engagement to confront issues of common interest. This rooted in the firm belief that our relations must be one that reconciles with the past yet at the same time is forward looking.

Since 2000 Timor-Leste has been invited to attend the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting for Foreign Affairs Ministers as a Special Guest of Honour. As mandated by our Constitution, our policy accords with the ASEAN spirit to promote peace and stability in the region.

In 2006, our nation faced internal conflict. However, through the guidance of our national leadership and the assistance of our ARF partners, we overcame and resolved this conflict. We believe that we can now use our knowledge and experience in conflict resolution gained from this period to assist nations in promoting peace and stability.

Today it is encouraging for Timor-Leste to have so many Experts and Eminent Persons who have taken time off their busy schedules to attend 5th ARF EEP meeting this year. I encourage you to use this opportunity to discuss and exchange views to find concrete actions to strengthen those confidence building measures that have already been adopted, and to discuss and debate new mechanisms and ideas in Preventive Diplomacy which can be used by our nations to further contribute to peace and prosperity in our region.

Over the course of this Forum, I encourage you to build on the deliberation of the 4^th ARF-EEP’s theme of “preparing an ARF Work Plan on Preventive Diplomacy: Moving Forward from Confidence Building Measures to Preventive Diplomacy” as well as new and innovative ideas during your deliberations over the course of the Meeting.

I believe by sharing and comparing perspectives and experiences from the diverse regions represented here, we can pool our ideas to conceptualize and narrow the divergence of views inherent in such a complex term like Preventive Diplomacy to find common ground and evolve measures that are readily acceptable by all participants for the benefit of this region. I have every confidence in your endeavours and wish you well in your deliberations.

Before concluding, I would like to reiterate our gratitude to the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand for their assistance in preparation for this Forum. I would like to acknowledge the presence of our Co-chair, General Boonsrang Niumpradit, the former Commander of United Nations Transitional Administration of East Timor (UNTAET) who dedicated his service at a critical time of our nation and state building by laying the groundwork for the peace and stability. In that regard I would like to extend to him our deepest appreciation and gratitude.

I would like to congratulate Indonesia on its chairmanship of ASEAN. We look forward to continuing to work with Indonesia during its term as the ASEAN Chair to promote peace and stability throughout our region. Indonesia and Timor-Leste have come a long way in forging a productive partnership. Such partnerships have manifested itself in the establishment of a Commission of Truth and Friendship. This mechanism has helped us deal with our common past in a constructive manner. What Indonesia and Timor-Leste have achieved together could be regarded as a successful confidence building measure within the region.

Finally, I would also like to acknowledge the assistance and support provided by our ARF partners to make this meeting possible.

Thank you and obrigado barak.

THE FIRST ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM (ARF) MEETING IN TIMOR-LESTE

The 5^th Meeting of Experts and Eminent Persons (EEP) of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) took place in Dili on 27 and 28 of January 2011. This was the first ARF Meeting convened in Timor-Leste since Timor-Leste joined the ARF in 2005.

The Meeting was held in the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Timor-Leste, co-chaired by Timor-Leste and Thailand.

“Timor-Leste was honored and privileged to host the meeting where more than fifty experts and eminent persons from ARF Participants attended. This demonstrates yet again the firm commitment of Timor-Leste to contribute actively to the region and to become a member of ASEAN “, said the Director General for Cooperation and Regional Integration and ARF Senior Officials’ Meeting Leader of Timor –Leste, Dr. Marciano da Silva.

Senior Officials’ Meeting Leader of Timor –Leste,

Dr. Marciano da Silva

Dr Marciano da Silva also said that “The Meeting aimed to generate innovative ideas on practical and feasible Preventive Diplomacy (PD) measures, building on the discussions of the 4^th Meeting of the ARF EEP in Bali in 2009 and also explore ideas on the future direction of the ARF as a pivotal pillar in the emerging regional security architecture”.

General Boonsrang Niumpradit -ARF EEP,

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr.Zacarias Albano da Costa

and Dr. Marciano da Silva

The ASEAN Regional Forum, established in 1994, is a consultation and dialogue forum for the Asia Pacific region on political and security issues. It comprises 27 Participants: 10 ASEAN Member States (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam), 10 ASEAN Dialogue Partners (Australia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea , Russia and the United States), Bangladesh, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste.

The Meeting was assisted by the ASEAN Secretariat.